The Weis Dairy Month Deal.....Not So Great But OK

Weis(Pound Me In The Ass)Markets had an Instant Savings Deal this past week, while I was on vacation.

It was a "June is Dairy Month" Promotion.  When you purchased $12 in selected "dairy" items, you got an instant $3 Off your order.
Let's not even get into that one of the items in this DAIRY Promo was ICE TEA.
WTF?lol

Now in the past, Weis Promos(Catalinas and Instant Discounts)have worked off of regular shelf price....meaning your total before Qs and sale prices had to hit the $12 mark, but you didn't actually have to "spend" $12 in goods to get the discount.
IE--The reg. shelf price was $12 or more, but the sale prices made the order $9.50 and the Qs added on brought your order to $7.00, but you still got $3 off your order, so you paid $4.00 OOP for the items.

So when we got back to town, Hubs and I went up to Weis PMITA Markets and I tried the deal by purchasing....
2 x Friendly's Ice Cream reg. price of $5.99/sale price $1.99
1 x Yo Crunch Yogurt Cup reg. price of .89¢/sale price .60¢
Reg. Shelf Total of $12.87/Sale Price Total of $4.58
With $3 discount the OOP should have been $1.58 for all 3 items.

But the $3 Discount didn't come off.

So I sent Hubs back for more items.....
2 x Daisy Sour Cream  reg. price of $2.29/sale price $1.50
1 x 18 ct. Eggs  reg. price $1.79/sale price $1.69
3 x Yo Crunch Yogurt cups reg. price .89¢/sale price .60¢

With a reg. shelf price total of $22.01 and a sale price total of $11.07 the $3 came off.

I sat for an hour trying to figure out what went wrong here.  Neither reg. price or sale price was at the $12 mark.
And Hubs was none too happy to be send back to get more stuff and I got an earful for that!!! 8-(

Then I read comments from some deal blog readers on this Weis Deal and how there was no rhyme or reason to how this Deal was being applied to folks orders.

And then I figured it out Friday night.
It is/was working off the sale price....you had to actually spend $12(before Qs)on the items to get the $3 discount.

And here is why my sale prices of $11.07 DID trigger the discount....
Our Weis is still having special pricing on some items, due to the Grand Opening of the gas pumps in my town. 
The Friendly's Ice Cream was on sale for 2/$5 chainwide but in our store ONLY it was $1.99 each.

So if you figure my whole order at sale prices and use the 2/$5 price instead of the $1.99 I paid per carton, my OOP before discount, on the sale prices comes to $12.09 and NOT the $11.07 I paid.
That was enough to trigger the $3 coming off.
(I guess there was not a way to make the computer figure our ice cream at $1.99 for the deal ONLY when in all the other stores it was $2.50 each.)

So with the 2 4-packs of muffins I bought with this stuff, I am OOP $13.65.


After having figured out how the Deal was working, I would have loved to have made Sonya Ann super jealous with all the ice cream I wanted to buy!
But seeing as my freezer is mostly full, I nixed a boatload of ice cream and sent Hubs back to Weis on Saturday afternoon for this....

First the $3 off Instant Dairy Deal....
1 x Friendly's Ice Cream=$1.99 *not pictured*
2 x Smart Balance Margarine stuff @$2.99=$5.98
2 x Cabot Cheese @ $2.00=$4.00
SubTotal of $11.97, but using the REAL price of $2.50 for the ice cream, the SubTotal was $12.48
And the $3 Instant Discount came off...$11.97-$3.00=$8.97

Coupons I used....
1 x $1/1 Smart Balance Spread ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1.10/1 Smart Balance Spread IPQ=$1.10
1 x $1/2 Cabot products IPQ=$1.00

$8.97- Coupons of $3.10=$5.87 for my 5 Dairy Items.

The Greek Yogurt was not part of the deal, but I was out and had a $1/1 IPQ.
$4.19-$1=$3.19+$5.87 dairy items=$9.06

I also had Hubs pick up a Pork Loin at the rock bottom price here of $1.69lb.
My 11.75lb. piece was $19.87.

My order came to the grand total of $28.93.

I gave Hubs $28 in Catalinas to use, so his OOP should have been $.93¢
But the cashier only let him use 1 of the $10 Cats(instead of the 2 I gave him), so he got $18 off in Cats and not $28, leaving a Grand Total OOP of $10.93.

I made a note to myself that I have to do a separate transaction for each $10 Catalina this coming week in order to use them all up.

So everything pictured above plus the ice cream(not pictured)cost me $10.93.
$65.96 worth of food for a savings rate of 83%.
And I have $59 in Cats left to spend this coming week.

So this Dairy Deal was ok but not great, since it worked off of the sale and not the shelf prices.
I did get some things I needed(like eggs, cheese, sour cream, margarine stuff)and the ice cream was a really cheap want.  If I had known the deal was working off of sale rather than shelf I sure wouldn't have bought those single serve cups of sweetened yogurt.  What a waste of money!
But understandable as I had to think fast and I hadn't brought the calculator with me to the store.

Live and learn I guess....
At least the 4 I bought didn't put our food budget into jeopardy or anything.

I'll be running to the store alot this coming week, since I have to use those 5 $10 Catalinas in separate transactions.
Plus I have a ton of +Up Rewards expiring at Rite-Aid so stay tuned for some Rite-Aid trips again.


Sluggy

The OHellIO Trip...Prequel Part 1

Well I am back from my trip.
And I must say that like most of my trips it was....."eventful".
Mostly not the sort of eventful you want however.

Being away from home and the dogs was, generally speaking, nice.
Being away from my bed?.....not so nice.
Man!....did I miss my bed.

Let me say that after I finish recounting our trip, you will be amazed that we kept a smile on our faces(most of the time)and we kept a good outlook on the whole situation mentally.
Because really, if you don't laugh about what life throws at you, you end up crying and complaining your whole life away.
So we chose to let these experiences be something we soldiered on through and we will laugh about in the future.

And the fun all began before we even left the driveway........

How did I get the great good fortune of having all these things happen to ME?!?

Either I am just the luckiest gal on the planet* or my real name is Joe Btfsplk.

Stay tuned as I'll begin deconstructing the Trip to Ohellio on Monday.

Sluggy

*said with heavy sarcasm

June is Busting Out All Over....with Decluttering P*rn!

More stuff leaving my house this week.....

2 x Transformers Beast Wars toys
9 x Micro machines Star Wars Battle Packs and Vehicles
1 x Racing Champions Black Sabbath Car
1 x Set of Star Wars Curtains

1 x Stick Horse
3 x Blankets/Flat Sheets

1 x Scooby Doo Mystery Machine
1 x Oreo Cookie Jar

1 x Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel
1 x Flubber Doll
2 x Star Wars Metal Keychain Sets
8 x Miniature Mme. Alexander Dolls
1 x Racing Champions Ozzy Osbourne car
1 x Teletubbies Dominoes Set
1 x Star Wars Simon Sez

And  courtesy of #2 Son's closet we have this......

2 pair men's shorts
5 men's t-shirts
2 men's l/s shirts
1 scarf
1 pair men's pajamas
6 pair men's jeans
1 pair men's dress slacks

So what stuff have you pared down in your life this month?

Sluggy

I Finished Buying Gift Cards

Well I did the gift card Cat Deal at Weis Markets 2 more times.  This was 1 time short of my goal of 3 more times, but I didn't have my car one day due to the Daughter having to take it to work.
So 2 times had to be enough.

I got some more soda and coffee along with each of the gift cards(purchased in separate transactions) so I received 2 more of the smaller denomination Cats as well as the $10 Cats.
And I am back up to 70 gas points, so I can fill my minivan's tank by Saturday at $2.65 a gallon.


I also went back to Rite-Aid and bought 2 more of the "Home Improvement" Gift Cards that were generating $10 +Ups and used the BIL's Wellness card.

Since I spent the 1st $10 Cat and other smaller Cats already I have left to spend......

6 x $10 OYNO Cat
1 x $5 OYNO Cat
2 x $4 OYNO Cat
2 x $2 OYNO Cat
1 x $5 Weis Gift Card

4 $10 +Up Rewards(Rite-Aid)

For a total of $83 in free food at Weis and $40 in free food/toiletries at Rite-Aid left to use.

$200 in Lowe's Gift Cards
$200 in "Home Improvement" Stores Gift Cards
2 x $25 Restaurant Gift Cards
$100 Kohl's Gift Cards**used already**

I'm OOP $550 for $550 worth of stuff I have to buy anyway.
And I have $123 worth of free food/toiletries as a bonus.
Plus I have another 70 gas points to use by the end of this week.

And the Cats I spent already($22.50 worth), helped me get my food spending last week down a bit more.

If you have to spend money, why not find a way to get something extra for spending it?! 8-)

Another scenario where I would buy gift cards when you would get a $XX Bonus Catalina is for Christmas(or Birthday or other gift occasions in your life).

If you have to cash on hand to spare or tie-up  until the gift is needed AND you are sure the recipient needs/wants/can use the gift card you are buying(or you can use the gift card to go and buy an actual "thing" present when the time comes to "gift" them), then wait for a Catalina Bonus when you buy gift cards at the grocery store and then go purchase them.  Gift cards are easy to store and don't take up the amount of room buying actual gifts can.  You don't need a gift room or gift closet to store these presents, just an envelope in your desk or a sock drawer.
But you DO need the spare cash and that doesn't mean to use money in your Emergency Fund to pay for them.
Gifting is not an emergency situation, no matter what your kids tell you......

Sluggy

Food Spending June Week 3 & Meal Planning?.....Maybe Not

One way to save money is to plan a menu and buy what you need, shopping from a list.  Planning your meals and food purchases also aids in eliminating food waste.
We had no food waste last week.

This is what we actually ate last week......

SUNDAY--Spaghetti with Sausage and Vegetable Pasta
MONDAY--Taco Bell

TUESDAY--Burgers on Roll, COC

WEDNESDAY--Barbecue Chicken, Grilled Asparagus
THURSDAY--Domino's Pizza, Tossed Salad
FRIDAY--Leftover COC, Chinese Food, Spaghetti, Pizza
SATURDAY--More Leftovers COC, Salad, Hot Dogs with Sauerkraut

Thursday's dinner was changed to Pizza, due to the 50% off code for Domino's.

I must say I REALLY don't like Domino's pizza now.  This is the first time we'd had it since they changed it.

It is TOO GARLICKY!

And somebody told me it's "spray on garlic??"  yuck.

I scrapped Friday and Saturday's menus as we had so many leftovers from earlier in the week.

I think it's because the teens weren't here for some meals, so we just ate the leftovers.  Hubs could have heavier food and I could eat lighter since it was hot and I didn't feel like pasta and hot dogs.

And I got a break from cooking.....go me! ;-)

Food Budget matters....
I've been a shopping fool this past week, doing the deals at the Weis Grand Opening Sale in my town.
I spent on food/toiletries this week....$179.02
(That includes a couple receipts from last week I just found, $14.39 worth.)
I did buy 3 Lysol toilet cleaners on Saturday's trip to Weis, which I will submit for a $3 rebate(making those $1 each after rebate).  That purchase/rebate brings my weekly spending total down to $176.02.

Reg. shelf price for what I bought....$520.46
That's a 65.60% savings rate.


Now granted I DID buy 12 12-packs of soda, 4 6-packs of vitamin water, 6 bags of cookies, 6 bags of chips, muffins and pizza rolls at the Grand Opening Sale at Weis over the course of the week.
But last week, I also got....6 lbs.of local honey, flax seeds, quinoa, 6 loaves of bread, 12 lbs. of coffee, asparagus, toilet cleaner, laundry detergent, corn, potatoes, other produce, 6 lbs. of ground beef, 2 lbs. of shrimp, a 3lb. bag of potstickers, seltzer and a box of cereal.

I just have to take all that junk food and hide it before #2 Son comes home and figure out how I am going to dole it out to him.  If you've been reading here for some time, you KNOW #2 Son has little self-control when it comes to soda and cookies.  I have to limit it or he'd have it all consumed in days.  I'm going to see if I can make the soda last until October.  The cookies?....I'll be lucky to get through August before the only thing left are crumbs.

I've given myself $400 for food this month. I have spent to date $306.91, so I have $93.09 left for June.

The Human Eating Machine(#2 Son has left the building for the rest of June so I should be able to keep the spending on target.

************************

This week's menu.....

No Menu this Week

Me and Scarlett will think about that another day.

Fiddle-dee-dee.

So what is everyone else eating this week?
C'mon.....make me jealous with your awesome cooking and food choices!


Sluggy